The fresh-faced, newly-minted JDs who graduated from law school this decade with a hankering for a career at the U.S. Justice Department might have proudly listed some of extracurricular activites — say Greenpeace, the Poverty and Race Research Action Council, or the American Constitution Society — on their resumes without knowing that they were actually screwing themselves out of a job interview. How, exactly?

A very damning report on the attorney-hiring practices at the Justice Department shows that aides used liberal "buzzwords" in applications and resumes to weed out lawyers with Democratic leanings. It's been happening since 2002, but it apparently became markedly worse around 2006 (yay, Alberto Gonzales!).

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So NASCAR might not provide the most comfortable work atmosphere for black female employees? Would you have ever guessed that?

According to a former NASCAR official, Mauricia Grant, the organization pretty much fulfills that stereotype. Grant says she was fired after she complained to superiors about racial and sexual harassment she was experiencing on the job. In a lawsuit, Grant "allege[d] that she was called a series of degrading names (such as "Nappy Headed Mo," "Queen Sheba," and "Simpleton") and subjected to racist stereotypes, such as being told she worked "on Colored People Time" if she arrived late." At the time she was hired, she was the only black female official at NASCAR. She's suing for $225 million. [TSG]

WHAT A COINCIDENCE! Barry Diller, the IAC mogul behind the new black-centered Web site, RushmoreDrive.com, is being sued by an employee of HSN, another of his holdings, for racial discrimination. "The St. Petersburg Press reports that Armanda Vernon, who is African-American, claims that "she was turned down for numerous internal jobs despite being well-qualified' and that 'her treatment fit a pattern of anti-black treatment at HSN."'

According to Diller's lawyer, Vernon previously tried to file this complaint with the EEOC, and they didn't find the evidence sufficient enough to take on the case. I wonder what comes up with you put "workplace discrimination" into RushmoreDrive's handy "ethnic" search engine. [NYP]

• Gabby gets work! Gabrielle Union has joined Beyonce and Adrien Brody in Cadillac Records. [IESB]

• A judge just okayed a $24 million settlement to 10,000 black Walgreens employees who were discriminated against. [KCS]

• I think I'm going to have to see this non-racist tea "advert." [UKP]

• Here's some bright, sunshiny listening material to get your morning going. [NPR]

• The "who are the candidates distantly related to?" game has gotten really old. Does knowing that Barack Obama is related to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie is related to Hillary Clinton do anything for you? [AP]

• Funny headlines from foreign newspapers: "The U.S. Has Moved Beyond Its Racist Past." [AUS]

• People are lobbying for post-WWII housing subdivisions marketed solely to blacks to get a spot on the National Register of Historic Places. [CST]

• The candidates are spreading their special brand of disingenuous love to the people in Maryland, D.C., and Virginia in preparation for the Potomac Primaries. [WP]

• An Apprentice-winner urges young blacks to change workplace stereotypes. I would urge whites engaging in workplace discrimination to change. [KN]

• With new museums and monuments, Seattle is finally recognizing the blacks, Asians, and Hispanics that helped shape area. [NYT]

• After last year's faculty hunger-strike over alleged racist practices, MIT is investigating its minority recruitment practices. [TheTech]

• Premiering tonight at 9 on PBS, African American Lives 2 is "bigger and badder." [CPD]

• My prediction: The Grammy celebrity fashion show is not going to be good. Mark my words. [CBS]

• 50 Cent has beef with another rapper. Yawn. [EUR]

• Racism in the workplace lawsuits hit the tire industry. [WOI]

• Deep questions for video game designers. [MTV]

• Bill Clinton spends some time in the black churches for his woman. [CBS]

• Can you spot the African influences in American architecture? [AAN]

• A judge in Maryland is in trouble for calling three black public defenders "The Supremes" and telling a defendant that he needed to find an "experienced male attorney." [HM]*

• LL, Missy, and Busta know that the Super Bowl is all about the commercials. [XXL]

• There are more black homicide victims in Missouri than in any other state. [KCS]

• Gross, Kelly! [PH]

• Montel Williams is going off the air. Can't even pretend to care. [TVW]

*Thanks Khia!

• I hate agreeing with Al Sharpton. [FOX]

• It happens in law firms, too. [LAW]

• The "race war" is being played up in the media more than the race card is being played between Obama and Clinton — the candidates themselves, not the "camps." But whatever. I don't feel that divided. [WP]

• Hispanic and black lawmakers in Buffalo are at odds. All the way across the country from LA! [WKBW]

• John McCain makes sure we know that he didn't father a little black child out of wedlock, he adopted a little Indian child with his wife. Big difference! [LAT]

For all of those idealistic-to-a-faulters who think that Barack Obama's success means that our country is finally rising above it's racist past are, unfortunately, pretty far off track. Actually, the number of racial discrimination lawsuits have soared over the past decade, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Racial harassment cases have more than doubled since the early 1990s, hitting an all-time high of 6,977 in 2007, according to EEOC data. (Blacks file nine out of 10 race harassment charges.) From fiscal 2000 to 2007, the EEOC received 51,000 racial harassment charge filings nationwide, already over the number received during the entire 1990s.

The big racial harassment payouts tend to get the headlines. Earlier this month, Lockheed Martin Corp. agreed to settle a case and pay $2.5 million to a black electrician who claimed he was harassed on a daily basis. He was threatened with lynching and once told: "If the South had won then this would be a better country."

But cases like this with smaller monetary penalties are numerous, although they may not get as much press coverage.

Check out some of the cringe-inducing stories we don't hear about. MLK day is coming up! He'd be so proud.

• People in Ocala, Fla., are like, "Whatever, Wesley Snipes." He goes on trial for tax evasion today. [TBO]

• Bob Johnson is like, "Whatever, Barack Obama." [NYT]

• The border patrol is trying hard to recruit blacks, who have been historically uninterested in the job. [HC]

• What are the chances DMX has $1.5 million lying around these days? [CM]

• Employees say the transit authority in Boston is racist, which I've heard is sort of a theme in the city. [BNOW]

• Let's face it, Will Smith saves the world like nobody's business. [AMC]

• The displaced half of Floetry is moving on. [SR]

• Anika Noni Rose won the coveted female lead in Debbie Allen's all-black production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. [CM]

• Pharmaceutical companies are working on more than 700 medications designed to combat diseases that disproportionately affect blacks. Bittersweet. [MNT]

• Target throws a few bucks in the direction of some Midwesterners who say the company uses racial discrimination in hiring. [KCI]

Typical Bush administration. A class action lawsuit alleging racial discrimination against black U.S. Secret Service agents has been on hold for seven years because the government, which has been sanctioned twice, refuses to turn over evidence, even though it has been requested by a judge more than 20 times.

On Monday Robinson will hear arguments about whether to sanction the government yet again, this time for stating in sworn declarations that the service does not archive "unofficial" interpersonal e-mails when, in fact, it does archive them, according to court documents.

The delays have frustrated the plaintiffs, who allege that white agents routinely leapfrog over black agents despite higher scores on promotional exams, and black agents are sent undercover because it is assumed they talk the "street" language and where a white "good ol' boy network" prevails.

Those work conditions couldn't really inspire black agents to take bullets for the president, could they? But that's probably why they're sent undercover, instead. [AJC]